NOVEL NEXT Chapter 160: The Abyss Decision
Ethan's trembling hand slipped from the smoking wreckage. Before he could even finish the word Lux, his eyes closed, and his body, devastated by the explosion and strain, collapsed back onto the ashen ground.
"Boss!" Jason shouted, panic cutting through his cold voice for the first time.
"Ethan! No!" Cassandra threw herself onto his chest, trying to rouse him. Sarah was on the verge of hysterics, clutching her head as she looked at Ethan's shredded back. The few men Jason had left who could still move looked on with despair; their leader, their only hope, was out of the fight.
"Falcon One, you and Two, organize a perimeter! Wounded to one side!" Jason ordered, kneeling beside Ethan. "We have to take him to the doctor! The Royal doctor, now!"
"No, Jason, it's too far!" Cassandra cried out, her voice choked with tears. "He's bleeding, his pulse isn't steady! He needs a hospital... he needs help right now!"
"A hospital will report him to the police in less than five minutes!" Jason snapped, trying to lift Ethan. "We can't risk him being captured that way. The Royal doctor is discreet and knows how to treat him. It's our only safe option!"
Officer Sparks, who had been observing the chaotic scene, approached, her handcuffs still tight on her wrists, her uniform torn, and her face pale, but her voice was steady.
"I regret intruding, but I think it would be better to take him to the police," Officer Sparks said. Her intervention stopped the argument cold. "I know what you're thinking, and yes, in other circumstances, fleeing would be the best option for him. But not now."
"And why in hell would we trust you, Officer?" Jason asked, looking at her with contempt. "You're the reason we're in this position, aren't you?"
"I'm the reason you have an eyewitness who isn't a gang member," Sparks countered, maintaining her composure under Jason's murderous gaze. "I assure you they will treat him properly, as an emergency. I will make it official: I will testify about what happened today. I will state that he freed me, that he was acting to stop a Congressman, and that he was injured trying to save lives from a bomb. The pursuit scenario is over; now is the time for legal defense."
"No! Jason, no! The police will kill him in custody!" Cassandra screamed, clutching Ethan's arm. "They don't know him, they don't know his ability! You can't let that happen!"
"You can't let him die here over a legal technicality!" Sarah shouted, joining the discussion. "Jason, please, just take him somewhere safe, away from here, and then we'll call the doctor! Not the police!"
Jason felt the weight of the decision. If they took him to the Royal doctor and the police tracked them down, it would prove attempted flight. If he surrendered him, he risked the police not believing the story, treating Ethan as a criminal, and letting him die from the severity of his wounds without giving him proper attention.
"It's not an option, Cassandra!" Jason replied, his voice shaking with rage. "The doctor is over three hours away by car! He won't survive a drive that long in this state! But if we go to the police... I'll put a bullet in him myself if they touch him."
As the argument went in circles, Ethan let out a rough, unnatural sound. His body, still slumped, began to convulse violently, harsh spasms shaking his wounds. Blood began to flow faster from the tears in his back.
"Shit! He's fading!" Sarah screamed, panicking completely.
The sight of Ethan convulsing cut through all logic. The boss's life was more important than any legal risk.
"Stop! To the SUV! Fast!" Jason barked. He lifted Ethan with Falcon One's help. "Officer Sparks, you have your chance. You'll guide us to the nearest station connected to a good hospital, and you better pray your testimony is worth something!"
"I will," Sparks said, her face grim. "But we can't go to the police station that was attacked. We'll go to the next county. Oakwood County is the best option right now; it's outside the immediate MIT jurisdiction, and the process will be cleaner."
They loaded Ethan into Jason's armored Escalade. Cassandra and Sarah climbed into the back, holding Ethan, their faces wet with tears.
The Escalade sped down the dirt road, leaving the smoke behind. Jason drove with concentrated fury. He grabbed his phone and called his most important contact: Davies, the gang's attorney.
"Davies, it's Jason. Listen closely, we don't have time. Ethan is critically wounded, a bomb, a Congressman fled. We have a witness, an officer, who will testify that this was a rescue operation and that he's not a terrorist. Do we take him to a black site hospital, or to the local police, right now?"
A tense silence fell over the line as Davies processed the information. Cassandra and Sarah listened, holding their breath.
"Jason," Davies finally said, his voice professional and cold. "There's no debate. You must go to the police. Listen to me: the country already knows Ethan exists. If they find him three days from now wounded in a black site hospital, that will be classified as attempted flight and resistance to authority. That seriously complicates the case. If, conversely, he appears now, delivered by a police officer who testifies that he saved lives, and that his target was a terrorist Congressman, the narrative changes radically."
"But what if they let him die? What if they torture him?" Jason asked, his voice thick with fear.
"They won't. Not with a witness" Davies countered authoritatively. "Furthermore, the explosion is evidence of Vance's brutality, not Ethan's. You need to surrender him, document the wounds as the result of the bomb, and ensure Officer Sparks gives her official statement to a high-ranking captain, before anyone else can interrogate her."
"So we turn him in?" Jason whispered, feeling like he was betraying his boss.
"Yes. It's best for the legal process," Davies confirmed. "Postponing the surrender at this time, given the circumstances, would only cause it to be understood as an attempted escape and could make everything worse. I'm calling the State Attorney General right now. They will receive you at the Oakwood County station, not the city station. They will be the first to know. Drive at full speed, Jason. Ethan's life depends on the narrative we build in the next hour."
Jason hung up the phone, his face stony. He looked into the rearview mirror at Cassandra and Sarah, who stared back desperately.
"Officer Sparks, we're going to Oakwood County," Jason said. "You guide us. If anything happens to the boss because of you, I personally will make your life a living hell."
"He'll be fine," Sparks said, her voice unshakable. "Let's go."